Monday, May 23, 2011

In the last 15 years, I've had jobs which have required a lot of travel, domestic and international. And there was one time where I had to go on a business trip from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, by myself. Since the time zones are against you, I remember flying out early that morning, the day before the meeting, and landing in Austin some time that afternoon. I remember shuttling to the rental car station and throwing my carry-on in the trunk of some mid-sized unremarkable car.

And then, instead of checking in at my hotel, I drove for three hours to catch a game at Minute Maid Park.

Mind you, the route between Austin and Houston, on US-290, is far from scenic. With small towns like Elgin, Carmine, Brenham, Hempstead, and Prairie View along the way, it's a pretty desolate slog. The radio couldn't really keep me company, since I wasn't much of a country music fan. So I armed myself with some Coke and fritos, and I forged onward, singularly focused on picking off another MLB stadium in my quest.

Minute Maid Park was a pretty cool stadium, I might add. On the night I was there, the retractable roof was closed (Texas is one humid state!), and the temperature inside was pleasant and comfortable.

Watching games on television, the most obvious oddity is that crazy hill in center field; some might also notice the train on the rails above left and center field (which activates on Astros home runs). However, besides that, there are some other quirks that make Minute Maid Park a neat reflection of the Houston community. For example, the price of a barrel of oil was signaled one of the ribbon scoreboards:

...and in center field, there's an old-style oil pump that tracks the Astros home runs hit at the ballpark:

Anyway, it was well worth the trip to see a game, even with the long drive through the pitch-black night back to Austin that evening. I was pretty tired for that business meeting the following day. But I did bag a pretty sweet adidas t-shirt (pictured at top). And, unlike the 2011 Dodgers with RISP, you gotta take advantage of opportunities when you've got 'em.

photos: oil commodities swiped from here; oil pump photo swiped from here. Someday, I'll scan in my own pictures, but for now this is what I've got.

I made it Minute Maid Park on a business trip as well. My job was in downtown Houston which is a strange place after 5pm, kind of a ghost town. The stadium is in the northeast corner of the downtown area and there was even less going on there. They have a bar or two next to the stadium for gameday fun, but they don't seem like they would get much action outside of the hour or two before and after games. The rest of the area was weedy urban lots used for parking because nobody wants to build a real building there.

@Delino, I hear you on the past stadiums. I was talking to someone this morning about the trips I'm taking this year which led to counting up what's left. I've been to 19 stadiums, 4 of which no longer exist. I will hit either 2 or 3 more before this season is up.

I think I've traveled to different stadiums in about every way that is practical-ish: planes, trains, cars, boat, bike and walking. I'll figure out something impractical when I see the Dodgers in Cincinnati next week. Maybe roller skates.

Still have to hit both in Texas, though. Maybe I should figure out some way of getting to one of them on horseback.

Shittiest (and still open): Tropicana Field. Like watching a game inside a crappy tent. Wrigley was a dump as well but gets a pass due to the sheer amount of beer consumed on the premises.

Shittiest overall: Veterans Stadium. Cookie cutter "design" with horrible turf and the Phillies. On the plus side, I visited on 5/26/1988. Steve Sax led off the game with a HR and the Dodgers came back with 3 in the 9th to win 10-8. Also, Lasorda stole the Phanatic's ATV before the game started.

I am now slightly freaked out that the 23rd anniversary of that game (and last Dodgers' world championship) is coming up in a couple of days.

The park I liked the least was Three Rivers, with Riverfront coming in a close second. The "stink" of concrete and plastic was almost nearly unbearable

Atlanta - my roommate from college was from there but for some reason, we never made it for a game. I don't know if I will ever be backTampa - will probably never get thereMinnesota - the week I was there, the Twinkies were notComiskey - have some friends there, have nearly gotten this one a couple of times. It seems like only the Cubs get to play on weekends in ChicagoArizona - my uncle lives there. I should be able to get there at some point.Washington - Just waiting for the Dodgers to play there on a weekend

Been to the Old but not to the New: San FranciscoCincinnatiSt LouisDetroit - I really liked Tiger Stadium, won't care if I miss the new one

Oriole Park at Camden Yard - went there a ton when it first opened and I lived in DC. One could get hammered on the Os train from Union Station and stumble right into the stadium. I really like that Yard. And that train.

Old Comiskey: shite but old and therefore cool.

New Comiskey: shite and boring. Plus they were having one of those take your dog to the park day and the barking was extremely annoying,

Metrodome: saw two WS games here when Twins played Shards. Rooted for Twins of course. Awful place to have a baseball game.

Big A: talk about White Bread.

Nationals Park: love this place. Go all the time I can when I'm working in DC.

Old Busch: full of Cardinals fans, therefore...

Wrigley: dump, as was expressed earlier, but can't hate this place. Lots of good times had there over the years and I drank a lot of beer there as well.

I have unleashed two thought provoking posts answering Dusty's stadia question that did not see the ray of light thanks to human and blog error. Therefore I will just say that Jack Murphy Stadium sucks.

I still say it doesn't make sense that Blogger is a Google property, and it's been that way for years. They obviously haven't put much effort into improving it. I am guessing it makes plenty of money how it is and they see no reason to try to make it better

Nationals Park has full priced beer, but they do have a wide range of beer options.

I have to say Angels Stadium does, too. When I was there the other day, as I think I noted in the GT, I had a Guinness draught and a Sapporo the same way. Reasonably priced, as well. They even have these little faux pubs set up serving as stylized beer stands.

Side note: noted that the field level at our Yard now offers PBR on tap. Long line of hipsters waiting for it when I walked by.